SDSU's Thomas looks like a draft lock

San Diego State's Malcolm Thomas, center, is surrounded by Colorado State's Pierce Hornung, right, and Andy Ogide, left, as he looks to move toward the basket in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, March 5, 2011, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
— AP

San Diego State's Malcolm Thomas, center, is surrounded by Colorado State's Pierce Hornung, right, and Andy Ogide, left, as he looks to move toward the basket in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, March 5, 2011, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
/ AP

Honors: Second-team All-Mountain West Conference. Invited to Reese’s College All-Star Game at the Final Four in Houston.

Upside: The kind of guy who can be the model NBA role player, willing to give you 10-15 minutes per game of shot blocking, rebounding, passing and solid defense without his ego getting in the way of his scoring stats. He’s long, athletic, springy, can run the floor and was one of college basketball’s best passing big men.

Downside: At 6-7½ (without shoes) and only 218 pounds, he is a bit on the small side for an NBA 4-man. And he doesn’t shoot it nearly well enough from the perimeter to be a regular 3.

Projected pick: Mid to late second round.

MARK ZEIGLER

Malcolm Thomas averaged an impressive 12.5 points and 8.8 rebounds as freshman at Pepperdine, then transferred to San Diego City College and averaged 21.1 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.9 blocks while being co-player of the year among California’s junior colleges.

Then he did what any young, impressionable, delusional kid would do.

He declared for the NBA Draft.

“I look back on two years ago all the time,” Thomas was saying the other day. “I think about how I thought I was ready (for the NBA). When you’re the man on your team and everybody starts telling you, ‘You’re a pro, you’re a pro,’ you start believing the hype.

“I definitely believed the hype.”

It took all of one NBA workout for Thomas to realize the difference between hype and hope. He quickly withdrew his name from draft consideration so he could maintain his collegiate eligibility.

“I knew I wasn’t ready,” Thomas says.

But the 6-foot-9 forward apparently is now, after two years of humbling and then seasoning at San Diego State. The kid who last fall was off the NBA radar is suddenly this ever-expanding blip on the screen – bursting into the picture not unlike he does for a rebound or blocked shot.

Thomas is widely expected to hear his name called in Thursday night’s draft in Newark, N.J., despite the draft these days lasting just 60 picks and including a host of heralded underclassmen and foreign players. Most projections have him solidly in the middle of the second round. His agent says “12 to 15 teams tell us he’s heavily in their mix,” including, yes, even a few nibbles from late in the first round and the land of guaranteed contracts.

Now consider that Thomas began his post-SDSU career in Houston 2½ months ago at the Reece’s College All-Star Game with this stat line: four points, one rebound, one steal.

He flew back to San Diego and had a chat with Aztecs assistant head coach Brian Dutcher, who, from his days coaching with Steve Fisher in Michigan, has seen his share of NBA prospects duck their heads through the gym door. Dutcher explained that he didn’t need to score 30 points a game, that he didn’t need to have SportsCenter dunks, that he didn’t need fat headlines, to get the attention of pro scouts.

“I told him, ‘Just play your game, and the guys who know basketball will know your value to the team,’ ” Dutcher says. “Malcolm always just played wherever we needed him to play to win games and did whatever we needed him to do, and he never complained.

“I told him, ‘That’s what the NBA wants.’ ”

Thomas nodded and went to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Virginia, an annual scouting weekend for college seniors who are not, ahem, high on most draft boards.

Put less politely: It’s a last-chance saloon.

Thomas averaged 11.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.33 assists and 3.0 blocks in three games, helping his team reach the final and being named all-tournament. Of the 64 players at Portsmouth, just four were invited to the official NBA draft combine a month later in Chicago.

“I think a lot of guys go to Portsmouth with the wrong mentality and wrong advice,” says Aaron Mintz, Thomas’ agent. “A lot of guys go and try to score 30 a game and show they’re the best player there.

“Malcolm knows who he is. Most NBA teams already have their stars. They have their guys who are going to score 25-30 points at game. What they need are other pieces. Malcolm went there and tried to do all the intangibles.”

Mintz compares him to Taj Gibson, the 6-9 forward from USC who was taken by the Chicago Bulls with the 26th pick in 2009 and became their do-it-all sixth man – averaging 7.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 21.8 minutes on a 62-20 team last season.

Mintz should know. He also represents Gibson.

“Malcolm is perfect glue guy,” Mintz says, “the guy who comes in and does whatever is needed.”

The Chicago combine opened more doors for Thomas, landing invites to two NBA group workouts as well as individual sessions with Houston, Chicago, Indiana, Denver, Cleveland, New York, Washington, Portland, Sacramento, Detroit and the Lakers.

“I’ve done basically all there is to do,” Thomas says.

There is more incentive, though, than the big money of the NBA. There’s the geography of the NBA.

Thomas has a 19-month-old daughter, Mikeala. If he doesn’t stick in the NBA and plays professionally overseas instead, well, he’d rather not think about that.

“I know she doesn’t really know what’s really going on, but she gives me energy and motivation to be that workhorse that does everything on the court,” Thomas says. “I think of her during those times when I think I can’t go on. I don’t think I could be thousands of miles away from her.

“If I didn’t see her for long periods of time, I don’t know if I could handle it.”